Sex and the City icon Kim Cattrall turns 70 today, and as her iconic character Samantha Jones famously said: "Hello, my name is fabulous!"
More than 25 years after she first appeared as man-eating PR boss Samantha Jones, scenes like the one where she covered herself with sushi on Valentine's Day while waiting for a boyfriend remain unforgettable.
While the role of sex-mad Samantha made her a global superstar, Kim's own life involves more than cocktails, designer dresses, and catchups with gal pals.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Born in Liverpool in 1956, Kim emigrated to Canada with her family at three months old. After briefly returning to England as a teenager to care for her sick grandmother, she headed to New York at 16 to pursue acting.
She trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and made her film debut in Otto Preminger's 1975 thriller Rosebud. Small TV roles followed in Columbo, Starsky & Hutch, and The Incredible Hulk.
Kim went on to star opposite Jack Lemmon in his Oscar-nominated movie Tribute (1980), as well as Porky's and Police Academy. Her biggest breaks came in the mid-80s with Big Trouble in Little China alongside Kurt Russell, and the lead role in Mannequin.
Near Miss and SATC Fame
In 1988, Kim was originally booked on the Pan Am 103 flight that was bombed over Lockerbie, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. She later revealed: "I cancelled the day before and booked a later flight so I had time to go to Harrods and buy Mum a Christmas present," adding that the enormity of that decision "didn't really sink in until much later."
In 1997, Kim was offered the part of Samantha, which she initially turned down but played for 25 years until the series ended in 2004. She also appeared in the two subsequent SATC movies in 2008 and 2010.
After a much-publicised fallout with co-stars, specifically Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim was persuaded to make a cameo in the season two finale of SATC spin-off And Just Like That in 2023. However, she refused to film with any former co-stars due to what she dubbed a 'mean girl' culture on set, meaning her scene was filmed entirely in isolation.
Kim has spoken about not receiving equal pay and claimed she and her co-stars were "never friends" in real life. She also said Sarah "could have been nicer" to her. The extent of their fallout was revealed in 2018 when Sarah reached out on social media after Kim's brother Chris died by suicide at 55. Kim responded: "Your contacting me is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now. Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven't already) You are not my family. You are not my friend." Sarah has maintained that "there was no fight" between them.
Personal Life and Marriage
Kim married for the fourth time in December last year, tying the knot with 54-year-old sound engineer Russell Thomas, whom she met during a 2016 BBC radio recording.
She was 21 when she wed first husband, Canadian screenwriter Larry Davis, though the marriage was short-lived and annulled in 1977. Her second marriage was to German architect Andre J. Lyson in 1982, ending in divorce in 1989 after seven years. Her third husband was American music engineer Mark Levinson, married in 1998 and split in 2004 after a six-year marriage.
Kim has spoken candidly about sex, revealing she experienced "a sort of late-blooming sexuality" in her 40s. "At that period of time, I was in a relationship where experimentation was readily available, and it was fun," she told the New York Times' Modern Love podcast.
Claiming that "most men don't have a clue" about what works for their partners, she implored women to tell or show them what they want. Kim said: "Most women, they're too nervous, too anxious, or they haven't done their homework to find out what feels good. Sexuality is not just about having babies, not just about getting off. It's expressing something in a very intimate way."
Like Samantha, Kim has never had children but considers herself a parent in other ways. She told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour: "I am not a biological parent, but I am a parent. I have young actors and actresses that I mentor, I have nieces and nephews that I am very close to. There is a way to become a mother in this day and age which doesn't include your name on the child's birth certificate."
Sharing that she's now in a "meaningful" relationship with Russell, Kim isn't afraid to put in the hard work. "People feel that it's something that happens, and you're lucky," she has said. "You meet this person, and the work is just begun. It's not a negative kind of work. This is good work. This is meaningful for your life. So, for me, I am less romantic about it. I feel that it is continuing to work and push and progress and ask and reveal for as long as you're alive."
